Trash and Treasure by Priscilla Brown

 

 

 

 

 While crossing the street,  Cassandra quickly steps back to avoid being run over by Alistair's hunky sports car. A skyscraper heel is a casualty in a drain. Snap! Should she condemn this now trashed pair of shoes to the garbage? But they are treasured, and she doesn't want to throw them away. She could do with a silver lining in her life. 

 

 

https://books2read.com/SilverLinings 

 

 

 

In my local area, three or four times a year the council arranges a collection of items which either are not allowed or don't fit into the usual bins. So at the moment the grass verges in front of the houses hold a variety of  unwanted items waiting for the council truck sometime this week. I really do have something better to occupy my time, but I admit to being intrigued by what people throw out. From my study window overlooking the street, I noticed an armchair with threadbare arms and seat cushion. Could this not be repaired/renovated?  Does it have a history? Was it loved by the person who had  relaxed in it?  I could write a story about this chair. On the second day it was out, two men in a small truck loaded it, I'd like to think they would fix it up and give it a longer life. Two mattresses are clearly unpopular as now, four days into trash awaiting council removal, they are still there. A small white-painted item with three shelves attracted me as yet another place to stash my large treasure of  books and magazines. But before I decided I could find room for it, overnight it disappeared. Someone's trash had found a hopefully good home.

 

I use this trash or treasure option in my contemporary fiction writing.  My first draft usually contains a trashy plot. Should these characters demonstrate more appropriate behaviour and lifestyles? Can this be rewritten into something readable? Or is it destined for the computer's recycle bin? Eventually it may be revived with new ideas and patience, and end up as what for me as the author is a treasured piece of creative writing.

Enjoy your reading, best wishes, Priscilla

 

https://bwl[publishing.ca 

  

https://priscillabrownauthor.com

 

 

My sinuous path to writing by J. S. Marlo

J. S. Marlo BWL Author Page

Many people I meet are curious to know how I became a writer, but I’m afraid the answer often disappoints them—or isn’t quite what they expect to hear.

I would love to say I obtained a degree in English literature, journalism, or creative writing (such a degree would come handy on a daily basis), then wrote and published stories. Instead, I followed a different path, a path I never dreamed would lead to writing and publishing.

As a teen, when I was bored during math class, I scribbled short stories, imagined new scripts for my favorite TV shows, or rewrote the ending of books I read, but without any writing expectations. It was pure fun. A hobby. A secret passion. I believed my path forward was lit with numbers, not words. I wanted to become an accountant, a statistician, a mathematician, or an actuary. I obtained a degree in business and finance, and for nearly twenty years, numbers ruled my world with little room for words.

 Then one summer day, I underwent a routine surgery but developed a severe infection following major complications. I spent many months in bed. To save my sanity, my husband gave me a laptop so I could interact with the outside world.

Well...I found a writing site. At first, I was a reader, then I gathered the nerve (or maybe it was the meds) to post the opening scene of a story. Next thing I knew I started getting comments about my scene, so I posted another one. Writing my daily scene gave me purpose and pleasure amid the pain. What had started as an escape became a torch at the end of a long tunnel, a flame that rekindled that secret passion buried deep inside me. In time, I healed and re-entered the world of the living, but I couldn’t ignore or re-bottle that passion I unleashed. In the following six years, I wrote and shared over two dozen stories—fun stories that served as learning tools for POV, floating body parts, show vs tell, character development...

Thanks to the encouragement I received, I started writing a special story, a story about a female scuba diver who investigates a Ford Model T sunk at the bottom of a lake, a story I kept to myself and showed to no one. After I finished it, I submitted it in a contest sponsored by a new publisher. In my wildest dreams I never imagined it would land me my first publishing contract.

Writing is a precious gift I rediscovered under difficult circumstances, and it changed my life for the better. The journey is ongoing as I write almost every day and sometimes way too late at night. So far, I’ve published eight novels, I’m midway through a ninth, and I’m geared up to start a new romance paranormal series later this year.

So, how did I become a writer? Quite literally by accident.

Thanks for joining me. Have a wonderful day!
JS

 J. S. Marlo's Website